Fewer Remaining In-state For College

A smaller proportion of both white and black Virginia high school graduates entered state colleges in 1988 than in 1987, according to the state Council of Higher Education.

The proportion of white graduates enrolling in state-supported two- and four-year colleges fell from 50.2 percent in 1987 to 46.8 percent in 1988. In 1988, 23,615 of the 50,467 white graduates attended state colleges, the council said.

In the same period, the percentage of black high school graduates attending state colleges fell from 32.7 percent to 31.6 percent. Of the 13,575 blacks who graduated from high schools in 1988, 4,284 attended entered state colleges.

The drop in black students attending state colleges is the first in four years. The last decrease came when that proportion fell from 33.4 percent in 1984 to 30.6 percent in 1985.

The decrease in white graduates attending state colleges was the third in a row. In 1985, 51.3 percent of the state's white students attended state colleges.

Largely because of the 3.4 percent drop in enrollment of whites in state colleges, the disparity between the rates at which whites and blacks attend state colleges fell from 17.5 percentage points to 15.2 percentage points.

Barry Dorsey, associate director of the state Council of Higher Education, attributed the decline mostly to a shift in the academic calendar of the state's community colleges. The community colleges changed their schedules from quarters to semesters last year, so now classes generally start in late August instead of late September.

Enrollment at many community colleges, including Thomas Nelson Community College, suffered last fall, the semester on which the rates are based.

Reports of drops in black and white freshman enrollment at state-supported colleges come as Virginia high school graduates are reported by state officials to be attending colleges at a growing rate.

According to a report by the state Department of Education, the percentage of high school graduates in Virginia planning to attend college increased from 60.5 percent in 1987 to 63.5 percent in 1988.

Dorsey denied that a growing number of high school graduates are leaving Virginia for college, but said state colleges have some difficulty in attracting the state's top students. "A lot of our outstanding students, and black students in particular, do go out of state because of outstanding scholarship offers," he said.

S. John Davis, superintendent of public instruction for the state Department of Education, said he did not know why the rates have declined. But he said the prospect of Virginians leaving the state for college "concerned me."

The state Council keeps track of the rate at which blacks and whites attend college as part of the Virginia Plan for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.